Sustainability: plant agriculture vs 'grass-fed beef' [Animals with the right to live.]

"Oppenlander, however, illuminates the environmental consequences of
choosing alternative sources of animal products. This is an important,
much needed, emphasis. How many times have you heard, after all, the
comment that “I choose grass-fed beef because it’s more sustainable”?
Well, it’s not more sustainable. Especially if you compare it, as
Oppenlander does, to growing kale and quinoa–two of the healthiest foods
on the planet.

His juxtaposition of the inputs and outputs of raising a grass fed
cow on two acres of land versus growing kale and quinoa on that same
land is astounding. After two years of raising a cow on grass you’d
have 480 pounds of “edible muscle tissue. [Animals who all have the right to live.]” You’d also have produced tons
of greenhouse gasses (especially methane), used 15,000-20,000 gallons
of water, imported loads of hay for winter feeding, been left with a
carcass needing disposal, wound up with food that, eaten beyond
moderation, would cause heart disease, and very likely trampled the
soil, establishing preconditions for erosion. In a world of 7 billion
people (about to be 9 billion) crunched by diminished resources, we
cannot afford this waste.

By contrast, if you used those two acres to grow kale and quinoa,
you’d end up with–get this–30,000 pounds of nutrient-rich, delicious,
fibrous food. You’d have done this while having used very little water
(if any), produced no greenhouse gases, and been left with loads of
green manure to work back into the soil as fertilizer. We could not
only feed the world this way (with, of course, a huge diversity of
plants), but we could do so on much less land."
Learn more here:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/video/expert_testimonies_oppenlander.htm

I also highly recommend World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle and this wonderful website:
https://www.facebook.com/abolitionistapproach

There is a solution to poverty and starvation and the solution is a world where no people at animal products

I think that we should focus on what people can do. It is so easy for people to think what others can do, but then they forget their own potential and the difference that they can make; and how their decisions has a big effect on others poverty and starvation.
 
This is what I think we should make our friends understand:
The plant-based foods that the more than 56 billion land animals (who have the sadly misfortune to grow up to become someones food) brutally slaughtered each year eats could feed more than 9 billion people.
15 million children are dieing of starvation in the world each year. Hundreds of millions don't get enough food. If we care of them we must let our eating habits reflect this. If everyone ate plant-based food, the food would suffice for everyone's need.

This is not the only effect. By eating animal products 3 times a day we teach our children that it is okay to take the life of innocent sentient beings, and that some individuals are of less value than others; instead of increasing our children's love and compassion by loving all sentient beings for their different qualities (just as many parents teach their children to extend their love and compassion for some dogs). I became a vegan this autumn and notice how this also increases my love and compassion for other humans, and not only all other animals.

This articles shows how eating animal products effects the environment and effects poverty and starvation: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/22/quinoa-bolivian-farmers-meat-eaters-hunger

Research -see e.g. the research referred to here: http://www.adelicatebalance.com.au/ - has proven that animal products are unhealthy.

A very strong argument to eat a plant-based diet: A cow, or a horse, or a dog, or a cat -- is there any difference? They are all sentient beings, they all have feelings, they all want to live and they all love their family!!!!!
We all agree that it is morally wrong to cause unnecessary suffering and death to animals -- and condemn people who for example enjoy and promote killing innocent dogs just because they got tired of them. However, we must also acknowledge that all animal products-eating is unnecessary and is done merely for "taste" and "enjoyment". So if we want to be moral we must also act upon what we acknowledge -that causing unnecessary suffering and death to animals is unnecessary. And in order to not cause other beings unnecessary suffering we must become vegans: see www.vegankit.com

.......
The animal industry (all kind of farming), has a vast environmental impact and is causing poverty, starvation, a vast amount of greenhouse-gases and subsequent deaths to humans and other animals by droughts and floods because of climate change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fws0f9s4Bas&feature=em-uploademail

15 million children are dieing of starvation in the world each year. Hundreds of millions don't get enough food. If we care of them we must let our eating habits reflect this. If everyone ate plant-based food, the food would suffice for everyone's need. More information: http://comfortablyunaware.com/blog/the-world-hunger-food-choice-connection-a-summary/
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Now, when it comes to "Feeding other humans nutrients," you may be surprised to learn this: "A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today."

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet